


United We Stand

by FrozenHearts



Category: Ant-Man (Movies), Avengers: The Initiative, Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Combat Simulators, Combat Training, Domestic Avengers, Domesticity, F/M, First Meetings, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Maximoff Twin Feels, Movie Nights, Physical Therapy, Post-Avengers (2012), Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, The bad guys decided to cut them some slack, Therapist Sam Wilson, Therapy, pietro is still dead, sorry - Freeform, super powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 09:10:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6950002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrozenHearts/pseuds/FrozenHearts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events known as "Civil War", the Avengers and their newest recruits reside once more in Avengers Tower.</p>
<p>Introduce one Terrance Ward, a new member of the recently formed "Initiative." He's a young man with no control over his powers, and it's bound to cause a rift in the already fragile team as they try to build themselves back up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Files

**Author's Note:**

> So I recently read the Initiative comics and I have fallen in love with Terrance Ward/Trauma.
> 
> Hopefully I do him justice, it's my first time writinf regarding the Marvel comicverse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team looks over files of Tony's Initiative program

Pepper had been looking through old Stark files when she heard the footsteps in the lobby of the newly renovated Avengers base. It was most likely going to be Tony to give her a kiss, or Clint and Scott to make jibes at the decor. Sometimes Peter came running through with a half open backpack, old math quizzes and pencils leading after him on the floor.

But the voice that cleared its throat belonged to none of those people, and she looked up to find herself face to face with a stern looking man in sunglasses, brown hair slicked back and wearing a pristine black suit. A cream manilla folder was tucked under his arms, his grip looking tight.

Pepper raised an eyebrow, "May I help you....?"

"Henry Gyrich," the man filled in for her, "I'm here to speak with Mr. Stark and The Avengers?"

Oh. Pepper vaguely remembered Tony mentioning it over dinner the other night, having been paying more attention to helping Sam with Rhodey's therapy papers and forms. Frowning, she turned to the computer; there had to be a schedule somewhere-

"Are all Stark's secretaries this inconpetent?" Henry said lazily, checking his watch.

Pepper forced a smile. She was so going to dream about murdering this guy in his sleep. Stepping out from behind the desk, she beckoned him forward, "We don't have anything on schedule, but I can have the team meet you in the lounge."

"That's fine."

\-----

Henry Gyrich was not the person Rhodey pictured Tony would pick to help run the Initiative Program. He was rude, condescending and all around prickly. 

He could see the rest of the team thought so too, Peter keeping his eyes on whatever homework he had brought with him from school. Sharon was next to him, patiently answering any questions he had and fixing any spelling mistakes. Rhodey kind of felt bad for the kid; his powers seemed to make getting his education almost unbearable.

Natasha was sitting next to Clint, the pair looking as professional as ever, save for the smirks and inquiring eyes. Steve and Bucky walked in, and he could feel the tension in the air slice in half, Sam following a few seconds behind with that Scott Lang guy.

Really, Rhodey didn't know why Scott was even here. He had come out of nowhere during the battle at the airport and seemed to come with a slew of surprises. Scott gave everyone a smile, plopping himself in the seat next to Wanda, which Vision had just been about to take.

Cute. The robot was jealous.

"Everyone," Tony greeted, practically gliding into the room, "Webhead, what did we say about homework at team briefings?"

Peter blushed, "Mr. Stark, I need to get this done, it's already a week late-"

Tony waved off his concern and Peter went back to his work, "I see Pepper informed everyone."

"And I see you've started running a daycare center," said a cold voice, and Rhodey raised an eyebrow as the man himself walked in. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sam frown with disdain as Henry Gyrich took a place at the head of the conference table.

"Henry, how are things at Camp Hammond?" Tony asked. Judging from his tone, Rhodey suspected he didn't like the guy much.

Henry straightened the cuffs on his suit before tossing a manila envelope across the table. Papers flew from the folder, all crisp and stark white. 

"You tell me, Stark," Henry countered, "What happens when you leave a bunch of super powered idiots to do whatever the hell they want?" 

Rhodey picked up the sheetclosest to him; it was some sort of file, with dates and statistucs. A picture of a young blonde girl in a winged helmet was printed in the upper left hand corner.

"Thor Girl?" Rhodey scanned the page, "Stark, does Thor have a sister no one knew about?"

Tony just shrugged. Great. Vision took a spot next to Rhodey's chair, and he thought the robot looked silly, with a lumpy black sweater and blue plaid slacks over his synthesized body.

"May I?" Vision said over his shoulder, and Rhodey handed it to him.  

Henry's mouth was set in a grim line, "They go ballistic. They're given freedom they never had and they don't use that freedom wisely."

Sam raised a hand, leaning back in his chair, "I'm afraid I don't get where this is going, sir. These are kids, there's going to be roadblocks."

Henry looked positively green, "These are kids, yes. And Mr. Stark put these kids in danger when grouping them with him."

Him?

Rhodey stole a glance at Tony. His brow was furrowed, lips pursed. His serious look. They were in deep shit now, Rhodey could tell.

"Who? Hardball?" Tony grabbed the folder and pulled out another sheet. Even from across the room, Rhodey could make out a bright red and yellow costume.

"I wish, but no. That one's just an asshole on the best of days," Henry deadpanned, "I'm talking about the other one. The very first one you handpicked for the roster."

Peter was glancing around the room, no longer r doing his homework as Tony rubbed his chin, "Craptastic, Gyrich. Really great. What do you expect me to do?"

Henry guffawed, "I don't know, Stark, how about not send over unstable mama's boys that don't know how to control their powers?!" 

That seemed to cross a line. Steve looked tense, arms over his chest in the familiar Captain America stance. His eyes were steely, "Sir, that's enough. These are just kids-"

"This one is not a kid, Captain!" Henry was shouting, "He's a W.O.D.!" 

"We're not at war, sir," Steve was doing his best to stay calm, "This is a human being we're talking about-" 

"No. This is a weapon we're discussing and Stark placed that weapon where it could easily hurt innocent people." Gyrich said, I'm sending him here so you can knock some sense into him. Lock him up of you have to."

Rhodey drummed his fingers against the table as he watched Henry take his leave, turning to Stark as he reached the door.

"It's part demon, Stark," Henry said, not even trying to contain his anger, "it woke up and got out of its coffin at the funeral last week."

Tony's face was hard, "Terrance is not an'it' as you so eloquently put it, Gyrich."

Henry was adamant, "He is a weapon and we will treat him as such. He endangered the lives of the other students-"

"It's going to happen if you put all of them in a fucking combat simulator at once!" Tony snapped. To this, Henry clenched his hands, knuckles turning white. Everyone waited with bated breath for his reply.

Henry gave the room one last glare before slamming the door behind him. 


	2. Who's Terrance?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony explains who Terrance is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't expect to be able to post a new chapter so soon, but I was getting stuck with my original work, so here you go!

The room was silent once the door was shut. Pepper had followed Gyrich out the door, leaving them to st quietly with each other. Tony looked at Wanda. She seemed a tad uncomfortable, picking at the cuff of her sweater. He remembered calling Wanda something along the same lines earlier that year, and there wasn't a day that went by that he didn't regret it. He hated that she thought that way of herself, thus the Initiative was born. The sole purpose was to take mutants and other super-powered beings and help them learn to control their powers, help them do good.

Almost like that Charles Xavier guy with the X-Men.

"Wanda?" Tony asked, "Are you okay?"

Wanda bit her lip, keeping her gaze on the table, "He called him an 'it.'"

Tony heaved a sigh. He knew how she felt about such things. It wasn't fair to the person, it categorized them unfairly into a niche. Tony sat himself down across from her. The files were still strewn around on the table; Hardball and Armory and Thor Girl and Bengal. Cloud 9 and Rage and Slapstick and Komodo. All of them young. All of them oping to better themselves.

"He called him a weapon," Wanda continued, "is that all we are to people like him? People who don't have abilities?"

"I have a suit," Tony pointed out, "so does Rhodey and Sam and Scott. We don't think any less of you because we know you wouldn't use your powers to hurt anyone on purpose."

Wanda glared, "But he would? This Terrance boy?"

Tony faltered at this. Terrance Ward. How would he explain such a guy? Aside from that, their powers were completely different. Clearing his throat, Tony leaned forward on his elbows, "Terrance has much different abilities than you, Wanda. You have to understand that."

It was Sharon who spoke up next, "So what can he do?"

This was going to be the hard part. Tony picked up the files, flipping through the pages before he found it. Terrance Ward's picture glared up at him, the boy- he wasn't exactly a man yet- with spiky black hair and an ill-fitting red dress shirt. A black tie was loose around his neck, and in the photo, Tony could see the black blazer he wore was too big on the arms. He showed them the picture.

"This is Terrance Ward, everyone," Tony announced, "I met him a few years ago, when he was just a measly thirteen years old."

"How old is he now?" Natasha asked, leaning forward from her perch on the couch.

Tony shrugged. He hadn't bothered to check on Camp Hammond because he thought things had been running smoothly. Apparently not, "I'd say he's around nineteen or twenty now. Not much older than Underoos here." Tony gestured to Peter, who had completely abandoned his late essay. Wanda held a hand out, and Tony gave her the paper. She studied it carefully before leaning over to Rhodey, showing him the picture.

"He can read minds?" Rhodey asked, "Tony, that is very dangerous, you know that right?"

Tony held up a finger, "Wanda can read minds, you don't think she's dangerous."

"Yes, but I know Wanda."

There it was.

"That's the point of the Initiative," Tony explained, "get to know these kids, help them know themselves before going out in the world to fight crime. Terrance has only limited mind reading abilities anyway, and that doesn't even compare to the other shit he's capable of."

The whole room seemed to erupt in chaos, with Natasha threatening to blast holes in the roof if everyone didn't shut up. They complied, and she gave him the floor.

"Terrance uses his mind reading abilities to find out what a person's greatest fear is," Tony went on, "and he proceeds to shape-shift into that fear."

Peter raised a hand, "is he coming here?"

Tony nodded, "From what Gyrich told me, yes."

\-----

Everyone, after being briefed on this Terrance Ward, got up to leave, Sam following suit until Tony clapped a hand on his shoulder, "Sam? Can I talk to you for a second?"

Sam studied Tony's face. The conversation before had left everyone drained, and Wanda looked visibly upset. But he complied, allowing Tony to lead him back to the table, pushing the files across to him.

"Is this about Terrance?" Sam asked, picking up one of the files. A girl was in the picture in the upper left corner, but she didn't look like any girls Sam knew to look like. Her skin had a slight green tinge, and she had beady white eyes with no pupils. Her head was bald and skin looked almost scaly, her ears replaced by what looked like webbing or fins jutting out from her head. He read the name, wrinkling his nose.

"That's Komodo," Tony said, "she has a similar situation to Peter here, but obviously it went beyond to the physical realm as well as the internal. She even has a tail!"

Sam nodded, raising an eyebrow, "Right... Tony, just get to the point."

Toni nodded, rubbing his chin. Sam hadn't noticed before, but the man looked positively worn down. He looked tired and it was obvious with this Terrance business springing up that he wasn't getting any sleep.

"The thing about Terrance is that Gyrich is.... kind of right," Tony was hesitant to explain.

Sam gasped, "You've got to be kidding me! A weapon of mass destruction?! Him?!"

Tony went to speak, but Sam cut him off, "No, Stark. Wanda, I understood to a point. This kid? A nineteen year old? Not possible. No way in hell."

Tony had a sheepish grin on his face. Boy, did Sam hate that grin. The one Tony used to weasel his way out of almost everything. It was a wonder he and Pepper had gotten back together, and an even bigger question of why she put up with his stupidity for so long. But that was love, and love came in the most unexpected of places.

"Incidentally, hell is where this kid's dad is from."

He had to be kidding. He was kidding, right? Sam groaned, scrunching his nose, "Stark-"

"His dad is some demon in hell called Nightmare, Sam," Tony said, "I can't exactly control that. Nor can I control the fact that he's currently being held by Gyrich in a military grade cell and hospital room until tomorrow. His teammates keep visiting and it's causing issues because he can't stop the transformations."

This was already giving him a headache, "Alright, well, what do you want me to do about it?"

"You're helping Rhodey and Bucky with therapy, right?" Tony asked.

"You want me to help him?" Sam retorted, "What if he turns into their fears? Bucky and Rhodey are war veterans, that's a substantial amount of PTSD we're talking about-"

Tony splayed his hands under his chin, "And Terrance just woke up from his funeral a week ago. That's bound to cause some psychological issues. Not to mention, his powers are triggered when he gets anxious or nervous and scared. We need to help him work on that at some point."

Sam sighed. This was going to cause more problems then they already had. Bucky had just gotten out of cryo, having come back from Wakanda with T'Challa- sorry, _King_ T'Challa- last month. With Sharon and Natasha sparring with Clint, Rhodey working on his legs, Peter still in school and Scott doing who the fuck knew what, the base was crowded enough. Vision had started hanging out in Wanda's room sometimes, even Peter because every once in a while, the kid would have a sensory overload considering how new his powers still were to him.

Put someone like this Terrance Ward into the mix and who knew what the outcome would be?

But Sam relented. He knew Tony's heart was in the right place.

"Fine, I'll do what I can. What time does he come tomorrow?"

**Author's Note:**

> So that was the first chapter, the second one should be up soon!


End file.
